Man Admits Setting Fires at Hair Salons

A Studio City man admitted in court Wednesday that he had torched three Ventura Boulevard hair salons, apparently out of anger about haircuts he got at the shops.

Jacob Mandel, 19, pleaded no contest--the equivalent of a guilty plea in a criminal proceeding--to setting fire to the shops in Encino and Tarzana, causing about $3.5 million in damage.

As part of a plea bargain entered in Van Nuys Superior Court, Mandel was placed on probation for five years and ordered to spend four more months at a locked psychiatric facility that he entered shortly after his arrest June 12.

Judge Judith Meisels Ashmann also ordered Mandel to make restitution to the shop owners if possible, although Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Schuit said there was no evidence that the defendant had money to make amends.

Mandel was arrested by firefighters called to a late-night blaze at Sal’s Barber Shop in Tarzana.

Schuit said the firefighters spotted Mandel across the street with a can of gasoline and a cigarette lighter about to set fire to Venti’s Elite Barber Shop.

He was subsequently linked to a June 3 fire at the Capri East mini-mall in Encino that destroyed or damaged 28 businesses.

Police said the fire was started in the For Men Only hair salon, one of several barber shops that Mandel frequented.

Barbers told police that Mandel, who kept his hair closely cropped in a military style, frequently complained about the trims he received, sometimes returning twice daily to a shop to demand additional trimming.

Mandel was “obsessive about his hair, that’s clear,” Schuit said.

He said prosecutors agreed to the plea bargain because Mandel had learning and mental disorders, adding, “If it were any other defendant, he’d be going to jail.”

The judge agreed there was “no sense in warehousing” Mandel in prison because he needs psychiatric help.

Mandel pleaded no contest to three counts of arson and one count of malicious mischief.

If convicted of all four counts, he could have been imprisoned for up to 12 years, Schuit said.